A Post in Which I Use the D-Word For Bad Parking in Fort McMurray

 

It’s become so endemic that I don’t even bother taking photos anymore, because it’s the norm and not the exception. I encounter it in every single parking lot and on every single street, and it seems to be getting worse, not better. Even the Intrepid Junior Blogger comments on it now, her observant eye often spotting them before I do. The epidemic? Well, as the IJB would term it, “parking douchebags”.

I don’t think I have to explain the term to you, but for quick reference it’s just people who cannot seem to grasp the concept of parking between the lines, not parking on the sidewalk, not blocking driveways, and not parking like jerks. I mean it’s quite the impressive feat when someone can stretch their mid-size car across three parking spots (I’m glad I don’t share a bed with these jackasses, can you imagine how often you’d end up on the floor as they spread across the entire king size trying to claim as much territory as possible?), but it’s more offensive than commendable.

For awhile I was taking photos of them all, but honestly I was finding my photos app on my phone filled with lousy parking pictures, which was getting a bit depressing. And, well, there was that day when someone busted me in the grocery store lot taking a photo of his truck and didn’t respond well when I informed him I was taking pictures of vehicles parked like they’d been abandoned in a tornado (well, and I might have made some reference to the intelligence of those who park this way, which might have been pushing my luck just a wee bit).

The question becomes: why do people feel it is their right to park in ways that infringe on others? My friend Nolan Haukeness refers to them as “Fort McMurray royalty”, and there is a whiff of entitlement going on with those who choose to park like this. More than that, though, I think there is a plain lack of thought and consideration going on, with people not thinking about – or caring – what impact this has on others.

And what is the impact of bad parking, you say? Perhaps you think there is none, and you are one of the ones who parks this way. I will share with you a story from a few months ago.

One day I was in a large parking lot, and when I found my car I realized that the person next to me had wedged their vehicle in so tightly and so close to mine that I could not get in my driver side door. And believe me I tried, opening it and trying to slither in, but there was no way, which left me climbing in through the passenger side door. I won’t go into details about how I was wearing a dress and how climbing over my gear shift was an incredibly unpleasant experience, and how the subsequent bruises lasted for days – but when I finally found myself seated in the driver’s seat I was seething with rage. I felt so impotent, right until I spotted the bag of garbage on the floor of the passenger side. It was a few days old, coffee cups and banana peels and such, a bit ripe-smelling and certainly overdue to be tossed. I looked at it, and I looked at the truck beside me...and then I quietly rolled down my window and tied the bag of garbage to the truck’s passenger side door handle. I felt much better almost instantly, my message – garbage attracts garbage – abundantly clear I thought. I drove away (after extricating myself carefully from the parking spot) smirking over how this individual would likely drive off not even realizing they had garbage tied to their door handle, discovering it later and puzzling over how it got there. So, if that was you and you are reading this – that was me, and I don’t apologize.

So, as the IJB says – don’t be a douche. Stop parking like you own the lots and the streets, and start acting like you share these areas with others, because you do. A long time ago your parents taught you to share with others and colour between the lines, so smarten up and give it a try – or risk finding garbage tied to your door handle, too. Or maybe one of these cards, which I am thinking of printing up and providing to friends – because frankly I am far from the only one tired of this. So, the next time you are in a parking lot and thinking about parking like a jerk – or aren’t thinking at all – remember this post and ask yourself “Am I being a douche?” – and if the answer is yes then ask yourself if that’s how you want others to see you, too. Because trust me - we do.

 

** Disclaimer – I am not a big fan of the word “douche” or “douchebag”, but as the IJB has explained to me on numerous occasions this is perhaps one of the most descriptive words for behaviour that defies explanation or logic. I defer to her wisdom on this point.

A Festival, A Warrior Race, and A Need for Instant Cloning

It's one of those weekends where I swear if I hear anyone complaining about having "nothing to do" I will lose my mind and stuff my overfilled daytimer down their throats. Ok, maybe I won't do exactly that, but I will explain to them that once again we are at the start of a weekend bustling with activities, and if they can't find anything to do then they just aren't trying hard enough.

interplay 2013 kicked off last weekend with an opening reception and the interPLAY Film Festival, events I was deeply sorry to miss as I was off on an adventure in Edmonton with the Intrepid Junior Blogger (who is lobbying to change her name to the Intrepid Junior Vlogger, as she wants to start a vlog, but I digress). I was sad to miss last weekend, but plan to make up for it this weekend when the events start again - tonight, in fact.

Musical act Havana d'Primera hits the interplay Mix Main Stage at 8:30 pm, and following their performance tonight at 11:30 Nightflix begins in Doug McRae park with an outdoor film screening of Jurassic Park. Now, if I wasn't a boring person with a job to go on Friday I'd likely be there, but it seems I will have to miss the late night fun and instead wait for...

TWO FULL DAYS of interPLAY, plus a visit to the second annual Northern Warrior Race for good measure. The Northern Warrior Race is a test of grit and determination as runners go through a course designed to be tough, challenging, and most of all, muddy. They invited me to participate, which elicited a fit of giggles and a subsequent polite no, (not being a fan of running or dirt) but I do intend to head out to Anzac to check it out and lend my support to a great cause, and one close to my heart - the Centre of Hope, our own little beacon of hope for the homeless in our community.

And when I return from Anzac (hopefully unmuddied) I will hit up interPLAY, with an intense focus on theatre, food, and fun. I am quite excited about several of the plays this year, including "Barefoot in Nightgown by Candlelight", and "The Order of the Black Cloaks", as both involve individuals I am honoured to call friends, and I am anxious to once again see "Mac Attack", a hilarious play I first saw a couple of years ago. I am also thrilled that some of my favourite street performers are back once again, like the stunningly beautiful and incredibly bold Aerial Angels (no one eats fire or breathes sarcasm like those gals!), and then there are the musical acts like Stephen Fearing and then there is the beer tent and then there is the homegrown talent search and then there's the marketplace and potato-on-a-stick covered in salt and vinegar flavouring and...then it occurs to me there is no way I can do this all unless I clone myself about 3 times. But I intend to give it a helluva a good try, and I plan to do as much as I possibly can, likely collapsing in bed every night exhausted after a day of fun, festival, and way, way too much food.

Here's the thing about events like interPLAY, you see. I love being involved in them, whether as a guest or a  volunteer. Last year I had the honour of hosting the hospitality tent for the mainstage artists, and it was truly one of the best weekends I have ever had here as I got to meet great performers from this community and from far away, and share my love of Fort McMurray with them. By the end of those three days I felt like I had been run over by the Aerosmith tribute band tour bus, but it was quite simply three exhilarating days. interPLAY has been part of my life here since I arrived, and was in fact the first event I ever attended in this community, so it will always hold a very special place in my heart and memories. Whether you are a child or an adult, a longtime resident or very new to town interPLAY is perhaps one of the best places to see old friends, meet new people, and experience some arts and culture right in our own backyard.

So, that, in a nutshell, is my weekend. Toss in a couple of coffee dates, the IJB/IJV and her teenage cousin, and our usual weekend mayhem and you have a terrific recipe for a very full and very entertaining weekend in our community. I expect on Monday morning my co-workers will find me asleep under my desk as I attempt to catch up on all the sleep I will lose over the next few days, and that I will be spending my free time finding toothpicks to prop my eyelids open and guzzling down gallons of Starbucks. And frankly, I'm excited as hell, and can't wait to get it started! Welcome back, interPLAY and Northern Warrior Race, and thanks for making sure my weekend will be anything but boring!

 

Be sure to check out

interPLAY 2013

this weekend from Aug 8-11

and/or

the Northern Warrior Race

in Anzac on Saturday Aug 10 -

and my thanks to all the dedicated people

who put on events like these:

 

 Events Wood Buffalo,

the Centre of Hope,

volunteers at both events,

sponsors/partners,

and everyone else who contributes

to making these events -

and our community -

 a success story!

No Such Thing as a Free Ride? Well, Maybe There Is...

 

I am a huge advocate of public transit. Most of my life, in fact, has been lived in communities with fabulous public transit systems. I rode the bus all through high school, during university, and when I moved to Toronto I rode streetcars, buses, and subways on a daily basis. Public transit was fast, and it made sense in an urban centre, especially if you were travelling into or around the downtown core. One of the many facets of the current city centre revitalization plan in Fort McMurray is a strengthened public transit plan, designed to further our goals as a sustainable urban centre, and I am truly pleased to see this plan – but one thing could make it better. What is even better than fast, convenient, accessible public transit? Make it free.

Yep, I used the “F” word. Free public transit is not a new idea, but I think it is an idea that may finally be achievable, and sensible. I encountered it on Twitter recently when someone posted a link to a blog that advocates for free public transit, and I found an entire world of people who believe public transit should be free. And while some might think this absurd I think the rationale behind it is very, very sound.

Currently our transit system charges $1.25 per passenger – and you would be hard pressed to prove to me that this is any way an adequate amount to cover the true costs of the system. This nominal fee likely does very little to even touch the costs of gas, maintenance, etc – so why are we charging it all? If the benefits of free public transit outweigh the costs why not explore this option?

Here are the benefits as I see them:

1)      Alignment with the new vision for the community, especially the focus on urban development

2)      A commitment to sustainability

3)      Reduced numbers of cars on the roads mean less costs for road maintenance

4)      Reduced emissions

5)      Increased public transit usage

We are doing some fascinating things in this community, like our zero waste initiative. We are pursuing LEED gold standards in our new building projects, and we are working towards being a shining example to the world on sustainability, creativity, innovation, and commitment to community. And here is another chance for us to be a national and even world, leader – free public transit. From my research there appears to be NO Canadian communities that offer free public transit, and only a handful of American ones. The places that do offer free transit, city wide and not just in the central core? Places like Hasselt, Belgium, Hunan, China, and Templin, Germany. This isn’t just an idea that will benefit us locally, as while it will this has the potential for a far wider impact – becoming a world leader in community-wide free public transit, available to all.

Perhaps some will question the budgetary wisdom of free public transit, and wonder if we can afford to do this. My question is: can we afford not to? In a community where we find such pride in our leadership abilities, and where we seize opportunity and potential, the possibilities are endless. We pursue goals and achievements that others may consider unattainable, and we approach new ideas with a can-do attitude that defies critics and naysayers.

I recognize the concept of completely free public transit, community-wide, is bold. If there is one part of this community that makes me proudest, though, it is our boldness, and our willingness to entertain new ideas and concepts that others might be too stuck in the past, or timid, to contemplate. And this is why I am an advocate for free public transit in Fort McMurray – because we are not afraid to lead, and this is truly an opportunity to show the entire world our bold, fearless, and progressive leadership as we embark on a free ride into the future.

 

Playing the Wants Versus Needs Game in Fort McMurray

I have been thinking recently about the concept of wants versus needs - not in a personal sense, but rather in a community sense. This is something I have given a great deal of thought to, actually, because the reality is that my want could be your need, and vice versa.

It is difficult to balance needs and wants, to be certain. I face this every day with the teenaged Intrepid Junior Blogger, when the things she sees as “needs” are things I would categorize as “wants”. And yet how she must feel the same way at times, thinking my “needs” are mere “wants” in her world. What you “want” and “need” is often based on perspective, not on some objective framework, and often a well-crafted argument can make a “want” into a “need”. There are some things, though, that seem like illogical, perhaps even ridiculous, “wants” that later become viewed as a “need”.

 What I also keep coming back to in my thoughts is that things that were once considered “wants”, and perhaps illogical ones, are the very things that often become the most iconic things in the world. We could start right here in Canada, say with the CN Tower in Toronto. Was this a “need” for Toronto? A giant tower, when built the tallest in the world, looming over the downtown landscape? Of course it was not a “need”, and yet over time it has become a symbol for the city, and a draw for millions of tourists in the years since it opened. I imagine many laughed at the folly of building this tower, and yet now it has become the landmark depicted in almost every postcard from that city.

We could look further afield, too, at things like the Eiffel Tower. I can only imagine what the people of Paris thought when this plan was revealed – and in fact public reaction meant the Eiffel was almost never built. And yet now, almost 125 years after it was built, can you think of a more iconic structure anywhere in the world?

Look, I realize in this community we are talking about arenas, not towers, and riverside developments, and civic centres. I know that many of the structures under discussion are not of the same kind of “tourist attraction” status as the Eiffel and the CN Tower – but they are even better, as they are utilitarian in nature, and not meant to simply be showpieces. An arena will become the place for concerts, sporting events, trade shows, and more. A civic centre becomes the new central point for urbanites, and a place from which our municipal government runs. A revitalized riverside becomes the focal point for families and all those seeking a beautiful public space. And yes, even a bridge from downtown to MacDonald Island becomes the link that joins the downtown with the central point for recreation and sport.

There is no reason to begin to start to divide these things into wants versus needs, especially since that is purely a subjective, not objective, view. This isn’t a discussion about whether or not we should have an aging in place facility OR a revitalized riverside (a riverside likely to be utilized by the very seniors living in an aging in place facility, just as my parents used the lovely riverfront property in Saskatoon for their leisurely walks and coffee meetings). The reality is that perhaps we both need and want all these things, and that turning it into an either/or debate simply creates divisiveness where none needs to exist.

There is no doubt this community is woefully behind on infrastructure development. How did we end up here, though? I think it is because we thought too small, and focused only on what we perceived as immediate “needs”, thinking that the things we deemed as “wants” were not important enough to fund or build. How quickly those “wants” have translated into needs, though, as we have grown and realized that we seriously underestimated our true needs. Perhaps we need to engage in some wide-angle pro-activity (as presented by my friend Amie Dawe at TEDx Fort McMurray) and recognize that we should try to look far into the future when thinking about what we “need” and “want”, and not be limited by only focusing on the immediate.

Here is my fear: a decade from now, when these things have gone unbuilt because we played the needs vs. wants game, we realize that the things we deemed as “wants” ten years ago are now our desperate “needs”, and we find ourselves behind yet again. I think we have struggled for far too long with inadequacies, and while it takes a great deal of courage and a certain leap of faith to embrace the things that seem like mere “wants” I would argue we need to do exactly that – or discover ourselves continuing to not have the things we want – or need.

The Challenge and Opportunity of Customer Service

I have spent the last two days in the largest mall in North America. I am sure most of you reading this blog are familiar with it, because if you live in the prairie provinces you have almost undoubtedly been there, and more than once. I am speaking of the West Edmonton Mall, a mall that encompasses shopping, an amusement park, a water park, and much, much more. It is quite the experience, and after spending about 18 hours there over the last two days I have learned a couple of things. One is that the Intrepid Junior Blogger and her cousin are the energizer bunnies of mall activities, and even when I am tapped out and ready to leave they just keep going. The other thing I learned, though, is less personal and more relevant to Fort McMurray - and it's about service.

First I want to say that I understand the challenges in the service industry in Fort McMurray, whether retail or food related or anything else. I know it is hard to attract and retain good staff when wage competition is fierce, and there are so many jobs available for employees to select. I know that running a small business is not easy, as I have worked in small businesses for many years and I know the subtle dynamics that occur. I know something else, though. I know that service attitude is usually a top-down influence, and that in order to create an atmosphere where customer service is great you need to lead it as owners and managers.

Here in Edmonton these past two days I have done a lot of shopping, both for items for my home and personal items like clothing. And in those 18 hours I have not had a single bad customer experience. In fact some were beyond what I expected. At Bed Bath and Beyond I needed an item from an upper display, only accessible by ladder - and the first employee I approached did it. I have no idea if it was 'her department' as she didn't pass the buck. She went and got the ladder, got it down, and then because it was a bit heavy went and got me a cart to carry it. In fact every single employee I saw in that store greeted me and asked if I needed assistance. It was a pretty profound experience given that I have become accustomed to being ignored in large department stores, and seeing employees scatter when they see me approaching looking like I might ask for something.

In Chapters I had my arms loaded with books, and no less than seven employees asked me if I needed a bag to carry them in. In every clothing store I had sales associates assist me, or ask if they could. In fact it all felt a bit bizarre as I am not used to this. Why? Because let's be honest - customer service in our community has slipped over time.

There are stores in Fort McMurray I actively avoid because I feel like I am intruding when I enter. There are some I gave up on years ago, because they never seemed to be interested in helping me. And there are some I will only go into if I see a particular employee working, because I know that person will help me. I got tired of being ignored, and honestly in the past three years I have taken a lot of my retail dollars online - including ordering from stores that have outlets in Fort McMurray. Why? Because if my experience is going to be impersonal then it may as well be online where I can do it in the convenience of my own home and at a time that suits me. Maybe that sounds harsh, but it's true.

There are pockets of great service in Fort McMurray (many are small locally owned businesses), and there are stores that have improved, but I think there remains room for significant improvement. There are some new retail stores opening in our mall, and these stores have the opportunity to set the new standard for service. They are starting fresh and if they can infuse their employees with the desire to provide great service with a personal touch perhaps it will spread into all the other stores in the community. I have gone into two of them - David's Tea and Children's Place - and found the employees there friendly and helpful and attentive, so they are starting off well. The real challenge will be maintaining it, because it is very easy with employee turnover and business challenges to let the customer service standard slip - but I hope it won't. I hope this is the leading edge of the commercial world to come to Fort McMurray.

Just so you don't think I have been blinded by some retail utopia, though, I share another story. After ten hours in the mall yesterday I returned to my car, parked in a lot where I thought it was far enough way to be safe. I was angered to see that I had been the victim of sideswiping incidents by people parked beside me who apparently could not park their vehicles without hitting mine - on BOTH sides of my car. The ding on one side and the large scrape on the other, with no note of apology left for either, showed me that while customer service at the West Edmonton Mall is great parking ability is abysmal - and those who park there are seriously lacking in social skills, like simply leaving a note. As someone pointed out to me many of those who park there don't actually live in Edmonton, which is likely true, and I don't blame Edmonton for my new scrapes and dings - but I am not impressed, either (read that as "lots of bad words said in parking lot").

One last thought about improving service in Fort McMurray. When was the last time you had a great customer service experience here? And when it happened did you tell the store manager about it? You see I think we have a tendency to only ask to "speak to the manager" when we are angry and upset, but how often do we do it to say "your employee did a great job today - thank you"? Maybe, just maybe, that is what we need to start to do to encourage businesses to create that customer service oriented atmosphere. Maybe we need to tell managers, and the employees, when they got it right, not just when they got it wrong. And so I go home with a new resolve to do exactly that, because I want to reward those who are getting customer service right in the hopes it will spread - and because good customer service deserves to be acknowledged. Maybe we need to start a customer service revolution in Fort McMurray - one that in the end will benefit us all, including the businesses who need customers to exist. This isn't a challenge - it's an opportunity, for businesses, employees, and customers. And I think it's an opportunity to make our community shine. Wouldn't it be great if visitors left saying "wow, what an amazing place, and what incredible customer service"? I cannot think of a single reason why this cannot happen - so maybe now is the time to make it reality, and herald a new era of customer service right here in Fort McMurray.

TEDx Fort McMurray: Shift in Thought - Scared to Live and Theresa Wells

I will always remember the moment just before I walked into the audition room for TEDx Fort McMurray:Shift in Thought. I had wavered for some time about auditioning, even after submitting my application. I reconsidered it every step of the way, from the moment I received the email with my audition time right until the moment I stood outside the audition room door. And then, with a deep breath and my story burning inside me, I walked through the door and into a new journey.

I have often said the TEDx experience was like a journey, and I still feel this to be true. For myself, though, it was another step in the journey of a story that continues to unfold, and one that I continue to write every single day - the book of my life. TEDx is yet another chapter, but it will always be one of special meaning to me because the story I told to that selection committee was a deeply personal one. I had never told it to anyone before, never tied together all the loose threads of my life in that way.

I had no idea if my story would interest anyone, or resonate. I told it to the selection committee, and when I finished I saw tears. And perhaps that was the first time I realized that maybe, just maybe, my story had value, and was worth being told. To be honest even if I had left that room that day and not been selected to present it would have been okay, because the reaction of those who heard it for the very first time had a profound impact on me. Days later, though, I learned I had been selected to present at TEDx Fort McMurray 2013.

I was excited. And terrified. Suddenly I went from having a story I had never shared to the prospect of sharing it with dozens of people. On a stage, under a light, and by myself. I will admit that there were times on this journey I doubted myself severely. There were times I considered just walking away from it, right until the night before the event when I briefly considered disappearing to Mexico. A friend, who had helped me rehearse, talked me off that ledge. They asked me to consider the irony of my fear given what my presentation was about - and they were right. There was no possible way I could come so far to give up, and no way I could let fear rule me now.

I have shared my feelings before about the TEDx event. I have shared what I went through during the audition day, and the day of the event, and so I will not belabour that point. When this video came across my desk one work day I felt the same fear and nervousness over again, and late that night, alone, I watched the video. That time on the stage was a blur for me, and I remembered so little of it. I needed to watch the video because I could not recall what I said or how. I watched it through to the end, and once again, just as on that day, I felt tears well up when the audience began to stand and applaud. I had been chosen to open Act Four, titled "Courage", and I don't often feel truly courageous - but in that moment I think, just maybe, I did.

I was so overwhelmed as I stood there, but if you look closely you can see I am mouthing something to the audience. I am, in fact, looking at the Intrepid Junior Blogger, standing in the second row as she gives her mother a standing ovation. And I am saying "I love you" to her.

You see in some ways I gave this presentation for me - to challenge my fears, to share my backstory, and, I hope, to perhaps help someone else who has experienced a similar journey in their life. In the end, though, I presented at TEDx Fort McMurray not for myself, but for the Intrepid Junior Blogger. It was about her and the journey of her life. I wanted to share my story with her, and to show her the incredible freedom in sharing your story with others.

I share this video with a mix of trepidation, pride, and outright fear. The truly amazing part, though, is that I could get on a stage and tell this story, and share it with anyone. Life is too short to spend it in fear - and I am no longer scared to live.

Cruising Down the 63

It is a bit embarrassing to admit it, perhaps, as I have lived here now for eleven years. And while during those years I have travelled Highway 63 many, many times I have never, not even once, driven it alone - until yesterday. It has been almost a year since I travelled it last, and today I can truly say: what a difference a year makes.

I have often written that this highway is like a ribbon that runs through my life. It ties right into the heart of my community, and has been the scene of many tragedies. I don't know if there is another subject I have written or talked about more frequently, and so I feel I have developed some sort of odd relationship with this road, and yesterday the highway and I continued our years-long dance.

I left Fort McMurray bright and early, anxious to escape the long weekend traffic. I set my cruise control and wondered how many would pass me as I did the speed limit - and many did, although I was intrigued by the semitruck who planted himself firmly behind me for the entire length of the highway. We made a convoy of two, him and I, and on  occasion I felt like I had a "big brother" behind me, watching out. I realize most likely he was just going the same speed as I, but while he had many chances to pass me he didn't, and so we travelled down the highway together.

I marvelled at the progress on the twinning project. Since last year the amount of land cleared and being prepared is astonishing. I realize the project is not due for completion until the fall of 2016, but the truly massive work is the clearing and levelling, which appears to be progressing incredibly well. That progress made me smile, because on occasion I would catch a glimpse of crosses at the side of the road, and I know that the highway, once twinned, will create a lot fewer of those crosses, and a lot more safe trips as the people of my community travel the  highway that connects us with the world.

There was one moment in particular that both terrified me and gratified me, though. My truck friend and I were travelling along when suddenly a small white car zoomed past us both, passing us on double solids - and right into oncoming traffic. His speed was extremely high, and he cut sharply in front of me to avoid colliding with the first car in that oncoming lane. I was deeply pleased, though, when the second car in that lane turned out to be an RCMP cruiser, who immediately turned on his flashers and turned his car around. The miscreant white car, knowing he was busted, immediately pulled off onto a side road (I got the sense he had been through this before), and I watched in my rearview mirror as the RCMP cruiser pulled in behind him, no doubt for a wee chat about his actions that could have ended in tragedy. I shook my head and smiled, because it is so rare you see justice in action and I felt truly fortunate to have witnessed it.

I saw a lot of RCMP cruisers, actually, which means there is an increased police presence which can only help improve safety. And I saw something else, too. On the stretch between Fort McMurray and Grassland I actually saw very little aggressive or dangerous driving, with people choosing to wait until the passing lanes to pass slower traffic, and exercising patience. I was troubled, though, that things got seriously unpleasant right around Boyle, where the behaviour degraded rapidly and I found myself feeling increasingly tense about those around me speeding, passing several vehicles at a time, and ignoring basic things like double solids. I think there is still a great deal of work needing to be done, including an increased police presence in this area as there seems to a be a great number of people who feel they can drive this way with impunity.

On the whole, though, it was an incredibly pleasant drive, particularly for me - because I was nervous about the entire thing. I had never driven it alone before and I had I guess built it into a challenge in my mind, although in the end it was less of a challenge and more of a joy. I got to be buddies for a bit with a semitruck driver (and given my recent not-so-pleasant encounter with a semitruck bully I needed this to balance that), I got to see the impressive progress on the 63, I got to see a jerk pulled over when he was caught red-handed, and I got to Edmonton to pick up my precious cargo - the Intrepid Junior Blogger and her cousin. I conquered my fear of Highway 63, and I don't think I will ever truly fear driving it again, because I know the highway itself is an inanimate object with no personality and no ill will to those who travel it. The highway is safe or unsafe because of those who travel it, and yesterday I saw good stewardship and commitment to ensuring the safety of others. I am sure some day I will see another side of this, as I have in the past as a passenger, but now I know that I, as a driver, have the opportunity to contribute to keeping the highway safe, and making sure there are no more roadside crosses. And that is an opportunity all those who drive the 63 have, too.

I saw this T-shirt in the Peter Pond Mall last week, and I could not decide if I found it offensive, or simply the height of hubris. I don't think it's accurate, because I did not survive the "highway" - I survived the people who drive it, and who have the power to make it great - or terrible. I didn't survive Highway 63, but yesterday I experienced it in a new way, on my own, singing along with my radio and under the watchful eye of my guardian angel truck driver. I wouldn't say I survived Highway 63. I would say yesterday I celebrated it, and what it can become - the lifeline for my community, and not a source of heartbreak and pain. Just a highway, nothing more and nothing less. And you know what? I think every single day it is getting closer and closer to becoming exactly that.

My thanks to Premier Redford

and the Alberta government

for keeping their word and

acting quickly on twinning 

and increased police patrols.

My thanks to the RCMP

who patrol our highway,

and keep us safe from those

who abuse their privilege to drive.

My thanks to the mysterious semi-truck driver

who unknowingly made me feel protected.

And finally my sincere thanks to all

who travel Highway 63

and exercise safe driving practices.

You are the reason 

we arrive home safe

to those we love.